Homosexuality In Early Japanese Literature

Male homosexuality has a long tradition in Japan, dating back at least a thousand years with the establishment of homosexual art, poetries, and pieces of literature, such as The Tale of Genji and the Nanshōku ōkagami (The Great Mirror of Male Love) by Saikaku. Regardless of the fact homosexuality practices were largely emphasized in early Japanese literature and promoted within society in the early periods, the notion of the homosexual seems to have declined in current Japanese culture. This essay will compare the differences between the homosexuality in ancient and modern Japan, and by examining the disparities the essay will explain why it is so difficult for Japanese homosexuals to publicly reveal their sexuality to their peers in this era. First, the early perception of sexuality will be observed from a religious perspective. Japan’s first main religion, Shintō (the way of the gods), was first recorded in the the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters), completed respectively in 712 AD, and Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan), completed in 720 AD. Both discuss the creation myth of Japan. Within the Kojiki and Nihongi, homosexuality was never …show more content…
In a sense, homosexuality becomes a dominant “prepossession”, and it has the potential to obliterate all other features or characteristics of a gay man and convert into his “master trait” (McLelland, 195). There are even incidents where some Japanese perceive homosexuality as a kind of physiological or mental sickness, and this belief was demonstrated in the movie Okoge (1992) by Murata Takehiro, where main character’s mother blames herself for his condition, believing that some ‘gay bacteria’ (homo no baikin) infected her during pregnancy (McLelland, 197). McLelland mentions in his